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MST3K 424 - "Manos" The Hands of Fate
The Short Hired! Part 2 (1940) Synopsis Fat doughy managing salesman is inspired by his creepy father on how to motivate and instruct his young, clueless car salesman on how to close. It is considerably less intense than Glengarry Glen Ross, but still unnerving. The Movie Synopsis The plot is as follows: Michael (Hal Warren, also director/producer/etc.) and Margaret (Mahree) are going for a weekend trip with their little girl, Debbie (Nielson), when a wrong turn takes them to a weird little lodge in the middle of the desert. It's run by The Master (Neyman), with the assistance of Torgo (Reynolds), a dim, lubricious, other-worldly man who immediately starts hitting on Margaret and creeping everyone out. What is The Master the master of, you ask? Good question. We know he has a bevy of semi-dead wives out in the backyard, and that they do weird cult stuff and summon "Manos," whoever that may be. We also know The Master is not a very good boss, occasionally abusing Torgo and at one point pulling his hand off and burning it. What makes Manos: The Hands of Fate noteworthy is that every aspect of it is badly done. Writing, directing, acting, cinematography, sound, lighting, sets, costumes, music, plot, character -- it's all inept and worthless. With most bad movies, at least you can tell professionals were making it. I'll tell you who should see this movie without the "MST3K" hecklings: film students. They need to see what evil can be unleashed when they are careless, lazy, or on cocaine. Just as Citizen Kane is a textbook example of how to make a quality film, Manos: The Hands of Fate is exemplary in showing us, step-by-step, how to make a bad one. http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/manos-the-hands-of-fate/?PHPSESSID=672f6ca95b03b62 Information *''Manos: The Hands of Fate'' is a film written, directed, and produced by American fertilizer salesman Harold P. Warren in 1966 as a result of a bet he made with scriptwriter Stirling Silliphant in a bar. He intended to make a successful horror film on a shoestring budget. The result, filmed entirely on location in El Paso, Texas, was a movie considered among the worst films ever made. After a failed debut, the film remained in almost complete obscurity until 1992 when it was featured in an episode of the television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000. *Actor John Reynolds built metal riggings as leg braces on the bottom of which were cloven hooves. Torgo was half-man, half-goat! Unfortunately, the silhouettes of Joel, Tom, and Crow obscured the few shots where we might have been able to see Torgo’s goat feet. *All of the sound was done in post-production. Hal Warren, his wife, Tom Neyman, and Diane Mahree recorded the voice tracks in a sound studio. Everyone else’s dialogue – including Torgo’s – was dubbed by other people. *The film's title is itself redundant, since "manos" is the Spanish word for "hands." The movie was originally called 'The Lodge of Sins.' In production, Warren, for some unknown reason, changed the title to 'Manos'. As time wore on and tempers frayed, the crew began referring to the project as, 'Mangos: Cans of Fruit.' http://www.torgo.org/torgo/manos.html The Episode Host Segments Prologue: Joel has installed a chip in the Bots that makes everything he does seem brilliant, but it quickly gets on his nerves. Segment One (Invention Exchange): The Bots are disgruntled over the chip. In Deep 13, the Mads invent the Chocolate Bunny Guillotine, while on the SOL Joel introduces the Cartuner to combine two boring comic strips into one funny strip. Segment Two: Joel and the Bots recreate the opening driving scene from the movie when they are pulled over by Officer Gypsy, but Cambot's failure to stop the blue screen footage pushes them over the edge. Frank apologizes for the movie. Segment Three: Joel and the Bots discuss exaggerated features that make for a horrifying monster, but can’t agree if Torgo counts as one. They propose scarier looking monsters based on exaggurated or missing body parts. Segment Four: Joel dresses as the Master and Crow is his hellbeast, but Tom isn’t impressed; he thinks Joel looks like Maude and his face is "too friendly". Dr. F apologizes for the movie. Segment Five: The Bots reenact the Satan lady wrestling game from the movie to cheer Joel up. In Deep 13, Frank ordered from Torgo’s Pizza over two hours ago. Torgo finally shows up, but accidently leaves their pop in the car. Frank disturbingly notes the pizza is still warm. Stinger: Girl in car saying "Why don’t you guys leave us alone?" Other Notes Guest Stars *''Torgo'': Michael J. Nelson Miscellanea *'Unusual credits': Torgo's theme music plays instead of "Mighty Science Theater". Quotes & References *''"Hired 2: Electric Boogaloo."'' The 1984 film Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo was a follow-up to the original Breakin', also, strangely, a 1984 film. This cheese-fest attempted to cash in on the breakdancing craze that was sweeping the world at that point, and starred people with names like Boogaloo Shrimp and Shabba-Doo as character living in a world where breakdancing solved all problems. As pointed out on the IMDb, "The phrase 'Electric Boogaloo' has passed into common usage as the sub-title for any facetious sequel." The big 1996 official MST3K convention was called "ConventionCon Expo-Fest-A-Rama 2: Electric Boogaloo." *"Jam Handy to the rescue!" "Jim Dandy to the rescue" is a lyric from the song "Jim Dandy," first performed by R&B singer LaVerne Baker on her 1957 self-titled album. The song was a hit again in 1973 with the rock band Black Oak Arkansas. *''"It's Dr. Giggles!"'' Dr. Giggles was a 1992 horror movie. *''"Joel, I think they sent us a snuff film!"'' A snuff film is a movie that shows someone being raped and/or murdered in real life. This is a riff on the graininess and extremely low-budget film quality of Manos, as well as the viewer's pervading sense of dread in anticipation of the rest of the movie. *''The song Joel sings under his breath as Mike walks into the motel hell'' The song comes from an old cereal commercial for Kellogg's Graham Crackos. It is also heard in War of the Colossal Beast. *''"They're rolfing him to death!"'' Rolfing is a type of massage promoted as "alternative medicine". *''"The new pope has not been chosen"'' Black smoke from the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican is the signal that the conclave of cardinals has not selected a new pope (more info here). *''"It's like they're walking into a John Waters film."'' John Waters is a filmmaker who first made a name for himself with intentionally offensive movies such as Pink Flamingos. *''"I ain't gonna play Sun City!"'' Joel is quoting the song "Sun City" by Artists United Against Apartheid. *''"This is a bughunt, game over man game over!"'' This is a reference to Private Hudson's hysterical breakdown in Aliens Video Release *Commerically released on VHS by Rhino Entertainment in Feburary 1998, it was later released as part of a three-pack along with Gunslinger and the Poopie! tape in March 1999. *Commerically released on DVD by Rhino in November 2001, the DVD includes the entire contents of the Poopie! video as an extra. *The Manos DVD was re-released unchanged as part of MST3K: The Essentials, a double-disc set which featured this episode and newly released Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. As a limited time special offer, if ordered off a specially created Rhino website, a bonus disc of Shorts Vol 3 was also included with the set. References 2. A list of cultural references in the Mystery Science Theater cut. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 4 Category:Episodes with shorts Category:Indie Film